OUR STEWARD'S CHILDREN

Our Steward's Children. I still shudder whenever I am confronted with the thought. My three children are not my husband’s. Towards my graduation from the university, I fell crazily in love. It has never happened before. I have always taken love for granted; it never made sense to me. Why sacrifice so much for a guy who may not appreciate you or worse yet, end up betraying you. Until then, I had concluded that at the appropriate time, I'll get pregnant and remain a single mother - my mother hits the roof whenever I talked like this. Tehi had been shadowing me for a while but I didn't take notice. This wasn't out of place. I lived a carefree life on campus. I barely noticed guys that eyed me. Unless you approach me like a man, you would not have my time. Without much fuss, he made his intentions known right from the start. I'll never forget his intro line – ‘I am convinced that in you I have found my other half; I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Simply put, I want to marry you, I am willing to wait till you graduate and complete your youth service’. And without waiting for a response, he stood up and walked out of the cafeteria that afternoon. Just like that! I didn't know whether to be shocked, amused or angry. That was the beginning of my head-over-heel in love experience. We got married 7 months after I passed out in Akamkpa, Cross River State where I served. I loved my husband so much and I was 110% convinced he loved me back. God was so gracious to us, He met all our needs. I had absolutely no reason to complain. My first child came barely 18 months into our marriage and within 7 seven years God had blessed us with 3 wonderful children. Tehi's career was blossoming; his company had just won a major construction contract. Our joy knew no bound. Of course, that was until our eight wedding anniversary. It was going to be a low key celebration for us. Our second child required surgery in about a month and we were more occupied with ensuring its success. A week before our anniversary, my husband insisted he didn't want us to go to work that Tuesday morning. He had something very important to discuss with me and it would not wait. On his persistence, I called in sick. We dropped the kids off in school and headed back home. At this point, I was dying of curiosity, and also fear. Tehi was quiet throughout the ride to school and back. He seemed so lost in thought he almost ran into a keke rider. I must confess that I became frightened at that point and began to fear the worst. I stared down at my husband kneeling in front of me in our bedroom and not seeing him at the same time, tears streaming down my face. I was sobbing my heart out. He was crying as well and quivering. His lips were moving but I didn't hear a single word he uttered. How could my marriage and world crash so suddenly? When I could find my voice to speak, I pinched myself to ensure I wasn't in some dreamland, I asked Tehi to repeat what he just told me to be sure I heard him correctly. 'Sugar I can't', he started in a quivering voice and a shrill escaped from my throat 'don't sugar me, I am not your sugar' I retorted, and then ran out. He tried to hold me back but the last thing I wanted was to spend another second with that beast. It began a few months into our marriage, he didn't remember specifically but it must have been just before I became pregnant with our first child. Tehi had discovered he was impotent and decided to hide it from me. To avoid raising dust as to why I was yet to conceive, he dreamt up a very ingenious and mind boggling solution. On certain days, my husband will drug my drink and when I have passed out; get our steward to have sex with me, under his supervision, so he claimed. That was how my first pregnancy came to be, and the second, and the third. It also explained another puzzle; in spite of all the problems caused by our steward in our home and my passionate appeal for my husband to replace him, Tehi has always stood his ground – the steward stays! Shocking right? That unfortunately is the reality of my world. My son's surgery was a success. Of course I had to patronize the hospital blood bank. His mother and a few close relatives have been inundating my phone with calls and pleading on his behalf. I am doing my very best at the moment to be strong for my children – my children. Lately it has been difficult saying ‘our children’. Suffice to say am the most confused woman on planet earth. At the moment, am on a long vacation with my children and I have no idea what I will do on my return.

@urbanemperors